Sharon Browne wrong for Legal Services Corp.

ON THE LEGAL SERVICES CORP.

Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, March 9, 2010

The U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee is expected to vote Wednesday on a nominee for the Legal Services Corp. board whose past advocacy work would suggest that she is the wrong person to entrust the legal concerns of the poor.

The appointment of Browne of Sacramento has set off alarms at the Bar Association of San Francisco and an array of civil rights groups. They point to not only the foundation's history of hostility toward what it sees as Legal Services' leftward bias but also to Browne's role in the foundation's successful effort to stop the State Bar from using members' dues for such "political" purposes as mentoring parolees and minority lawyers - or advocating in the Legislature for legal services for the poor.

The law requires that no more than six of the board's 11 members can be from one party, and the custom has been for the White House to defer to the Senate minority leader for recommendations. In this case, McConnell appears to have reached well to the right in the ideological spectrum.

Elementary school in Oakland opens time capsule from 1927San Francisco Chronicle

Brides of March walk through San FranciscoSan Francisco Chronicle

WildCare rescues Western scrub jay from rodent glue trapWildCare

The Regulars: The CarpenterJessica Christian

Massive fire in San Francisco's North BeachDavid Essling

The Legal Services Corp. is under continuous attack by conservatives who don't like its assistance of immigrants or inmates or its confrontations with corporations. At least its board members should be committed to its mission.